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I love Findery, a social network for travelers. If you love to travel and haven’t used it yet, you must. It’s the most personal, intimate way of sharing info and images about your travels with others. Download the app, set up an account and start sharing (and while you’re there, check me out). The interaction is instantaneous. I also love that I can access it everywhere and can get tips from experts who are people like me who love to travel and want to share their favorite tips and experiences, and great photos.
And now I’m excited that they’ve now created a new mobile app: Findery for Windows. At the tap of the screen, Findery users discover local knowledge about their current location through personal travel stories, hidden histories, and local tips left by Findery’s extensive and active community. Findery users share their experiences and leave notes and photos about meaningful places they’ve found and love, both where they live or where they travel. The new Windows 10 application opens up a bright new world for Windows users, allowing them to connect with other travel minded individuals, whether they’re planning trips or just dreaming of exploration. The Findery team built the latest app to best utilize the Windows 10 operating system, taking advantage of Cortana’s capabilities and the ease of pinning interesting elements to the Start Menu.
Since the app was formally launched for iOS in March 2014, Findery contributors have left notes to share travel stories in all the 196 countries across the globe. The platform makes it easy to discover treasures in countless places – from where they’ve been to where they dream of going.
With Findery for Windows 10, you can plot all of your travel stories and travel dreams on a map and explore the world from New York to New Delhi. Pin a Findery note or notemap to your Start Menu or ask Cortana “Findery, show me things nearby” to see interesting notes around your location or “Findery, show me the world” to explore over 100 destinations around the world.
Once downloaded, Findery for Windows 10 uses the current location to surface interesting local notes. Not actually traveling yet? Wander the world on the app. Follow other members. Discover places you want to visit and explore. Notes can be about local history or folklore, point out interesting factoids, or be a way to share a little anecdote about a location. Notemaps are a curated collection of notes about a particular topic, theme, or location. Members can add their own notes and notes from others to the notemaps they create.
Findery is about people living their dreams — climbing the Eiffel Tower, or relaxing on a beach in Costa Rica. Members follow each other and receive notifications when those new notes or comments are posted. Notes can all be shared to Facebook, Messaging, Microsoft OneNote, Mail, or NFC.
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post but I am a regular contributor to Findery.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Findery app?
Findery was a location-based storytelling app that let users drop “notes” on a map — photos, stories, recommendations — tied to a specific geographic point. The Windows app brought the experience to PC/tablet users. Many users discovered favorite spots through other people’s notes.
Is the Findery app still available?
No — the Findery app and website were officially shut down in late 2017. The closest current alternatives are Atlas Obscura’s app, Polarsteps for travel journaling, and Google Maps’ “Lists” feature which lets you save and annotate locations privately.
What were the best uses for Findery?
Families used Findery to leave breadcrumb notes on past trips, discover hyper-local spots others recommended, and plan trips by browsing notes left by locals. The Windows app was especially good for trip planning on a bigger screen.
What apps are similar to Findery now?
Atlas Obscura is the closest replacement for discovering quirky spots. Polarsteps captures family trip journals on a map. Google Maps Lists lets you save and share collections of places. Komoot and AllTrails have community notes on routes.
Why is location-based storytelling useful for families?
Maps of memories make travel rewards tangible — kids see exactly where they’ve been and the stories tied to each spot. They’re also useful for planning return trips: a five-year-old note about a great playground saves real time when you’re back in the same city.
What replaced the Findery community?
The community largely migrated to Atlas Obscura (for the discovery side) and to private Google Maps Lists (for the personal note-taking side). Reddit’s r/travel and r/solotravel filled some of the recommendation discovery role.